| Convict Ship Newspaper, The Wild Goose, Re-discovered Page 5 Flood’s greatest contribution was the writing of the seven editorials. Each deals with a virtue or desirable characteristic which he urges on his fellow-prisoners—patience, forethought, self-reliance, love of homeland etc. Sincerity without melodrama runs through them all. Between these and his poems, some of which have a Christmas theme, Flood must have been kept occupied almost full-time at work for the Goose during the seven weeks of its appearance. John Boyle O’Reilly wrote nine poems for the paper. Only three have been republished and this is all the more surprising when it is considered that Roche’s book on O’Reilly includes no less than 140 of his poems. Here is “Farewell” written at the start of the voyage, long before the idea of publishing a newspaper occurred to the prisoners. FAREWELL Farewell! Oh how hard and how sad ‘tis to speak That last word of parting—forever to break The fond ties and affection that cling round the heart, From home and from friends and from country to part. But ‘tis harder, when parted, to try to forget, Though it grieves to remember, ‘tis vain to regret— The sad word must be spoken and Memory’s spell Now steals o’er me sadly. Farewell! Oh Farewell. Farewell to thy green hills, thy valleys and plains, My poor blighted country! In exile and chains Are thy sons doomed to linger. Oh God, Who didst bring Thy children to Zion from Egypt’s proud king, We implore Thy great mercy! Oh stretch forth Thy hand, And guide back her sons to their poor blighted land. Never more thy fair face am I destined to see; E’en the savage loves home but ‘tis crime to love thee. God bless thee, dear Erin, my loved one, my own, Oh! How hard ‘tis those tendrils to break that have grown Round my heart—but ‘tis over, and Memory’s spell Now steals o’er me sadly. Farewell! Oh Farewell. JOHN B. O’REILLY Hougoumont, Oct 12, 1867 And near the end of the voyage, nine or ten weary weeks later, he writes: “A MERRY CHRISTMAS” A “merry Christmas” each one sends To-night across the foam, To all the loved ones, all the friends, Who think of us at home. From them a “merry Christmas” flies On angels’ pinions bright; ‘Tis heard upon the breeze that sighs Around our ship to-night. Though on our ears no voices fall, Our hearts, our spirits, hear- “A merry Christmas to you all And happy bright New Year.” Then, brothers, though we spend the day Within a prison ship, Let every heart with hope be gay, A smile on every lip. Let’s banish sorrows, banish fears, And fill our hearts with glee, And ne’er forget in after years Our Christmas on the sea. These are light, superficial verses, but in the same issue (No. 7) appears what is probably O’Reilly’s finest poem, too long to reproduce here, entitled “Christmas Night.” It deals with the emotions of an Irish prisoner in an English jail and is clearly based on his own thoughts in Millbank, London, during the previous Christmas Day. It is fit to rank in any anthology of verse, and it is impossible to read it without being deeply moved. © 2002 Walter McGrath continued |
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